In the statement, Systrom says Instagram does not want to sell
your photos.

"To be clear: it is not our intention to sell your photos,"
Systrom writes. "We are working on updated language in the terms
to make sure this is clear."

He also apologized for the confusion Instagram's new policy
caused today.

Systrom drops a few hints about how
Instagram willadvertise in the future. For
example, some brands and companies may be able to pay to have
their photos promoted in your feed. You'd also be able to see
which of your Instagram friends follow a company or brand. That
is the only personal data Instagram wants to use.

Systrom says your photos will not be sold as ads and Instagram
will try to avoid showing banner ads.

We've copied the full statement below.

Here's the statement:

Yesterday we introduced a new version of our Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service that will take effect in thirty days. These two
documents help communicate as clearly as possible our
relationship with the users of Instagram so you understand how
your data will be used, and the rules that govern the thriving
and active Instagram community. Since making these changes, we’ve
heard loud and clear that many users are confused and upset about
what the changes mean.

I’m writing this today to let you know we’re listening and to
commit to you that we will be doing more to answer your
questions, fix any mistakes, and eliminate the confusion. As we
review your feedback and stories in the press, we’re going to
modify specific parts of the terms to make it more clear what
will happen with your photos.

Legal documents are easy to misinterpret. So I’d like to address
specific concerns we’ve heard from everyone:

Advertising on Instagram From the start,
Instagram was created to become a business. Advertising is one of
many ways that Instagram can become a self-sustaining business,
but not the only one. Our intention in updating the terms was to
communicate that we’d like to experiment with innovative
advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram. Instead it was
interpreted by many that we were going to sell your photos to
others without any compensation. This is not true and it is our
mistake that this language is confusing. To be clear: it is not
our intention to sell your photos. We are working on updated
language in the terms to make sure this is clear.

To provide context, we envision a future where both users and
brands alike may promote their photos & accounts to increase
engagement and to build a more meaningful following. Let’s say a
business wanted to promote their account to gain more followers
and Instagram was able to feature them in some way. In order to
help make a more relevant and useful promotion, it would be
helpful to see which of the people you follow also follow this
business. In this way, some of the data you produce — like the
actions you take (eg, following the account) and your profile
photo — might show up if you are following this business.

The language we proposed also raised question about whether your
photos can be part of an advertisement. We do not have plans for
anything like this and because of that we’re going to remove the
language that raised the question. Our main goal is to avoid
things likes advertising banners you see in other apps that would
hurt the Instagram user experience. Instead, we want to create
meaningful ways to help you discover new and interesting accounts
and content while building a self-sustaining business at the same
time.

Ownership Rights Instagram users own their
content and Instagram does not claim any ownership rights over
your photos. Nothing about this has changed. We respect that
there are creative artists and hobbyists alike that pour their
heart into creating beautiful photos, and we respect that your
photos are your photos. Period.

I always want you to feel comfortable sharing your photos on
Instagram and we will always work hard to foster and respect our
community and go out of our way to support its rights.

Privacy Settings Nothing has changed about
the control you have over who can see your photos. If you set
your photos to private, Instagram only shares your photos with
the people you’ve approved to follow you. We hope that this
simple control makes it easy for everyone to decide what level of
privacy makes sense.

I am grateful to everyone for their feedback and that we have a
community that cares so much. We need to be clear about changes
we make — this is our responsibility to you. One of the main
reasons these documents don’t take effect immediately, but
instead 30 days from now, is that we wanted to make sure you had
an opportunity to raise any concerns. You’ve done that and are
doing that, and that will help us provide the clarity you
deserve. Thank you for your help in making sure that Instagram
continues to thrive and be a community that we’re all proud of.
Please stay tuned for updates coming soon.